Way-too-early Philadelphia Eagles 2024 NFL Draft preview

The 2024 NFL Draft is April 25-27 in Detroit. Here is the first-round order, per Tankathon. 

After reaching the Super Bowl in 2023, the Philadelphia Eagles went 10-1 to start the season before losing six of their last seven games including a blowout playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With eight picks projected in the first five rounds of the draft, the Eagles are in good shape.

2023 record: 11-6 | First-round pick: No. 22 | Team needs: CB, LB, RB

Potential first-round picks: Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA; Quinyon Mitchell, cornerback, Toledo: Kool-Aid McKinstry, cornerback, Alabama

Philadelphia has made a habit of trading first-round picks under general manager Howie Roseman. The team traded up one spot to take Jalen Carter in 2023 after making a pair of first-round trades the year before, so don’t expect the Eagles to sit tight at No. 22.

If they do, UCLA linebacker Laiatu Latu would be perfect. With the team’s best edge-rusher, Haason Reddick, given permission to seek a trade and starting linebackers Zach Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow set to become free agents, Philadelphia must fix a defense that allowed the third-most points per game (25.2) in 2023.

After being medically retired for a neck injury by the University of Washington in 2021, Latu enrolled at UCLA in 2022, where he posted 85 tackles and 23.5 sacks in two years as a Bruin. Of course, now that he’s run a 4.64 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, Roseman may need to trade up.

With a pair of 30-something starting cornerbacks in James Bradberry and Darius Slay, the team needs to get younger (and better) at the position. According to ESPN’s Matt Miller, Philadelphia finished the regular season by allowing 7.8 yards per attempt (27th) and a 66.8% completion rate (26th) over their last five games.

Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell had 124 tackles (93 solo), 45 passes defended and six interceptions as a Rocket. All but one interception and 19 pass deflections came during a 2022 season that earned him first-team All-MAC honors.

Pro Football Focus named Mitchell as the perfect draft prospect for the Eagles, but after posting a 38-inch vertical leap and running a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the combine, another trade up could be in order.

If Mitchell is gone, Kool-Aid McKinstry is another option at cornerback. Alabama’s shutdown cornerback had 93 tackles and 23 passes defended with the Crimson Tide but couldn’t participate in combine drills thanks to a broken foot.

He expects to make a full recovery before training camp begins, but if a Jones fracture on the pinky toe is enough to scare off other teams, Philadelphia could land a top talent without moving up the board.